Dubai’s Grand Experiment: Run the City on Blockchain

Dubai, a semiautonomous member of the United Arab Emirates, intends to power its government, business, and financial sectors with blockchain by 2020. The Smart Dubai public-private partnership initiative is working with IBM and Consensys and this year is kicking off training programs to begin implementation. Major concerns, however, remain about running a city on the blockchain—hacking attacks, regulatory uncertainty, the high-cost of the technology shift. Read More >>

BLOCKINTEL’S TAKE: The ability of a state to manage trade finance and logistics at scale will quickly test several foundational beliefs among blockchain believers, and most likely further expose risks as blockchain-based systems interface with people and other systems. Watch Dubai’s blockchain experiment for its ability to work out the kinks in areas such as security and integration, the legal enforceability of smart contracts, and the overall cost of a country-wide rollout. States are prime targets for hackers regardless of blockchain usage; keep an eye on new threat vectors and the agility of the state.